Dogs and Others

The protagonist in Dogs and Others is the first openly lesbian character in modern Serbian literature, but she is also so much more than that, as she encapsulates the zeitgeist of her generation. Coming of age in 1970s Belgrade, then the capital city of thriving, socialist Yugoslavia, we follow Lida and the bohemian life she leads, made more complicated by the trials and tribulations of her eccentric family. The whole novel breathes with a raw sensibility so aptly captured in the voice of the heroine — a striking, rebellious, overtly feminist and somewhat neurotic young woman.

Praise for Biljana Jovanović:

“Biljana Jovanović came into the Serbian literary scene as a new phenomenon. . Such girls in literature bring with them spite, devastating erotica, a new language, and new rules, especially when the old rules break down painfully…”
Svetlana Slapšak, author and professor

“. . . a rich amalgam of unvarnished bohemian life in socialist Belgrade, narrative experimentation, a sensitive but provocative depiction of family life in the shadow of old age, disability, and ‘madness’. . . ” WORDS without BORDERS

“In her novel Dogs & Others, Biljana Jovanović went a step further in breaking down all taboos regarding women’s sexuality in Serbian literature.”
LOM (Serbian publisher)